AUS/NZL - Boomers ready for Penney and their oldest rival

MELBOURNE (FIBA Oceania Championship) - When asked if the Australia Boomers might be too focused on New Zealand superstar Kirk Penney in the FIBA Oceania Championship, Boomers captain Matt Nielsen gave a simple answer.

"No!" he said emphatically with a slight chuckle.

The Oceania championship tips off in Melbourne this Wednesday night, and with only one Olympic berth on offer in the three game series, the game has been a sell out for six days.

For Nielsen, who has played the last seven seasons in Europe, it is an experience he is excitedly looking forward to. "Any time you play in front of an Australian crowd is great, but a sell out crowd is going to be really exciting and there's going to be a lot of energy (in the stadium)."

One man more than capable of deflating even the loudest crowd is Penney, the sweet shooter who ranked second in scoring at last year's FIBA World Championship in Turkey with 24.7ppg.

Nielsen says he means no disrespect to the other New Zealand Tall Blacks, but Penney is the man they have to stop. "We definitely need to be physical, and I think Kirk Penney is a big factor in that," he said.

"We are well aware of their other strengths, but Kirk Penney is at a very decent level and he is the first guy we mention, I don't have any qualms in that."

Penney averaged 23.5ppg in the 2009 FIBA Oceania Championship to lead the Tall Blacks to victory, ruining Brett Brown's debut as Boomers coach.

While Brown certainly hasn't forgotten that experience, he is more focused on how to stop the constant movement of the New Zealand offence, which saw them rank third in scoring in the preliminary round at last year's world championship.

"It's difficult," he said of the Kiwis' structure. "Not only is it unique, it's very well drilled. They've been playing that open structure for a while, and we are just going to have to stay with the rules we have in place. Give credit where credit is due, that offence is very well run and I think they use it at interesting times."

While Australia appears to have a size mismatch at the other end with Nielsen, Aleks Maric and Andrew Ogilvy against young New Zealand centres Alex Pledger and Rob Loe, as well as the undersized but brilliant Mika Vukona, New Zealand coach Nenad Vucinic earned a lot of respect in Turkey for his ability to mix up his defence to cover holes.

"We are trying to be prepared for whatever looks they have," Brown said. "They have zones in their arsenal, they have presses in their arsenal. We've tried to do our best watching them play over the years, just trying to come prepared … (and) I feel comfortable with where we are at right now."

One area where Australia haven't looked comfortable is their perimeter shooting, but coach Brown is not expecting that to play on his players' minds come Wednesday night. "I hope not," he said. "If it does it's self inflicted.

"We shoot a lot in practice, we encourage them to shoot the open shots. The good shot, bad shot coaching/policeman role is a very difficult one to play… but I encourage our guys to shoot open threes."

Nielsen, who has played at two Olympic Games, is showing no signs of anything but all-out attack on Australia's oldest sporting rival. "I want to go to another Olympics, and obviously that is what this is all about," he said.

"I've played against New Zealand for over a decade and it's always been the same," the 33-year old added. "That's the thing the Wallabies are about to go through too (at the Rugby World Cup), any time you play New Zealand it really brings out the extra level of competitiveness.

"I have big respect for them, but they are someone you want to beat every time you play them."

The Boomers have been buoyed by their August European tour, where they defeated Serbia and Croatia on the way to a 4-3 record. Beijing Olympics standouts Patty Mills and Brad Newley led the way on tour - a welcome sign after struggling somewhat in Turkey last year - and Nielsen says the team could not be better prepared.

"I think the results were great, but it was some of the steps we made in getting to playing the way we want, playing our style. And to do that against good competition is a good feeling."

And what should fans expect on Wednesday, and in final two games in Brisbane and Sydney on Friday and Sunday. "It's a personal thing," Nielsen said. "We are the two downunder battlers and we are going to have a good crack at each other."

FIBA